The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I finished reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo last night and since then I have been trying to figure out how I felt about the book or what star rating I think it deserves.
On one hand the book is very engaging. I was interested and once I hit the 60% mark or so I wanted to know what happened, so I didn’t stop reading until it was done.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo read like a true story, like a memoir of an actual person. I found myself wanting to google Evelyn Hugo and see all her glamourous pics and the pictures of her husband. The parallel story of the reporter was less interesting.
I think one of my larger criticisms of the book was the lack of depth to the story. Everyone seemed quite shallow and the story itself seemed very surface, despite the fact that there were several very deep topics that were tackled. There were parts of the story that I expected to be emotional, and I found myself reading them with a detached interest. I had no real investment in any of the characters.
I was also disappointed in the love story that was woven throughout the book. It just didn’t feel particularly engaging or endearing to me. I didn’t believe the characters were in love despite being told they were many, many times.
I think I was also troubled by the way identity was handled in the novel. There were some deep issues of race and sexuality that were not fully explored.
One thing I am certain about is I am very glad that this was the book chosen for my family book club because I am very much looking forward to the discussion.
I think my final rating is 3.5 stars, I’m still debating between rounding that up to 4 or down to 3.
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